Spike had stopped running, and was looking over at who had approached the transparent wall. "Oh," the dragon said with a humorous laugh. "It's just Apple Bloom and her friends." He looked away from Sombra to call over, "Hey guys!"
While Sombra's friend came up to the three to talk some, he stayed behind, untrusting towards anypony but the princess, Spike, and Twilight.
Apple Bloom greeted first. "Heya Spike! Saw you plain' with some new lookin' kid."
Then Scootaloo asked, "Twilight doesn't need this magical... uh... What is this thing anyways?"
"It's a force field," Sweetie Belle said, smirking. "Twilight's told me about them before. It's like a magical wall. I wonder why she has this put up."
"Well," Spike said but with an unsure tone. "It's because of... Sombra?" He looked back at the pony in the distance, waving him to come on over. He didn't budge. "Come on over and meet these three. They're the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
As Sombra slowly began crawling closer and closer, and only because Spike had asked him to, Sweetie Belle asked aloud, "Sombra? I swear I've heard Rarity say that name before."
Then Apple Bloom, too, stated with a hoof touching her chin, "Say, you're right. Applejack mentioned that name once before... King Sombra?"
The colt stopped in his tracks, a bit too close for his personal liking now. "Err... Spike..."
He looked worried, but not as worried as he'd be once Scootaloo also claimed, "Rainbow's definitely talked about him with the others. She said you used to be a... a..."
"Tyrant?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle commented while nodding. "Rarity's said the same thing. That he's a..." She looked at young Sombra, her smile disappearing.
"What's a tyrant?" Scootaloo asked.
"It's a very mean ruler who does more bad than good." Sweetie Belle looked back at Sombra, and said, "But you don't seem like a tyrant. Are you?"
Sombra began biting his bottom lip in worry, their words hurting, and he wasn't even sure why. That's when Spike interrupted. "Hey, that's not who he is anymore!" Sombra looked at him with upset eyes, listening closely. "He's just... Sombra now. Look, I'll go ask Twilight to-"
"Ask me to what, Spike?" Twilight questioned, coming out from inside the establishment.
Spike and Sombra turned around, the dragon taking it upon himself to say with enthusiasm, "Apple Bloom and the others wanna come on in and meet Sombra, and I was thinking we could play some tag together."
Twilight thought for a second. "Gee, Spike. I don't know..."
He sold her with, "Princess Celestia would probably be pretty impressed with seeing Sombra making some friends."
She nodded while looking up at the sky, keeping an eye out for her highness's carriage. "Hmm... Well, when you put it like that..."
"Yes!" Spike eagerly commanded, "So? Raise the force field!"
But Twilight wasn't about to be so hasty. She looked at Sombra sternly. "First... do you promise not to try and run off? Because once they're inside the front of the library, I'm dropping it again whether you're inside the force field or not."
Spike knew Twilight was just trying to scare the little guy, and didn't interfere. Before answering, Sombra looked to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and then Spike. "Err... Yeah, like I said... I like it here."
Twilight raised her chin, but kept looking down at him. "That's not what you said this morning..."
He merely looked away, unsure as to how he wanted to respond to that. "I know, but..." He looked at Sweetie Belle. "I really wanna meet these ponies."
Twilight breathed, her horn glowing slightly. "Alright..."
Just like that, the powerful barrier lifted itself momentarily, just enough for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to cross the shadowy, purple threshold. Sombra didn't even look out that way, and instead kept his eyes fixed on the three. "Sweet," Spike cheered. "Thanks!"
"Sure thing," Twilight said before returning to what she was doing before checking up on things.
Spike turned to everypony present, and offered, "Okay, introductions. Scootaloo, Apple bloom, Sweetie Belle?" All three smiled his way. "This is Sombra."
The shy colt bowed his head, and greeted mainly to Sweetie Belle, "Hello..."
She cheekily smiled, and waved. "Heh... Hi, Sombra."
"Sooo..." Spike put his fisted claw on his sides. "We were just playing tag..."
Scootaloo forwardly asked at that point, "Who's it?"
Spike replied with, "Well, I used to be."
He then poked Sombra on the shoulder. "Huh?"
"Now, Sombra's it. Tag!" In a hurry, Spike and everypony else bursted off, breaking away from one another, and the girls galloping away from Sombra especially. The girls shrieked a little bit as they ran, but the poor, clueless colt just stood there for a moment more, really not yet realizing what was going on. After all, he was a bit unprepared for this. Once it all began to click, though, his sights closed in onto Sweetie mainly because she seemed the slowest, the easiest to catch, and in his opinion the prettiest of the bunch.
Twilight watched from inside for a bit before going to the up stairs balcony to rest up before her mentor's arrival. The four in front would play for about a little over an hour more, and then Sombra would stop once again. Something had finally caught his eye. That something came gliding down in the far off strip of town, and it was headed directly towards where they played their games. It was undoubtedly Princess Celestia coming for the young colt, which could only mean his time with Spike and his new friends had come to an end.